TSR Collaboration
Nov 28, 202216 min
Written by Grace McLaughlin & John Cusick
Additional edits and commentary by Garrett Zatlin
NOTE: These rankings are based on how a runner fared throughout the entirety of a season, not just how they ran at the NCAA XC Championships or at a singular meet.
Was not ranked in our last update.
First number indicates how much the team has moved in the rankings.
The second number indicates where the team was ranked in our last update.
There were plenty of names who we could have placed at TSR #25. But as we head into the national meet on Friday, we’ve elected Liz Wamsley to get the nod for our final spot.
The season didn’t start so strong for Wamsley, but she’s proven to be a very capable runner over the course of the last month. She finished as the runner-up at the GMAC XC Championships behind Savannah Ackley before avenging that finish with her 4th place result at the Midwest Regional XC Championships.
At that regional meet, Wamsley was the first athlete across the finish line who wasn’t in a Grand Valley State uniform. She was only seven seconds behind Natalie Graber and eight seconds behind Lauren Kiley. Those are some really good names to be finishing near in the Midwest region and it helps us put Wamsley's performance into perspective.
Hillsdale has produced strong harriers in the past and it seems like the redshirt sophomore is the next one in line. As she peaks for the national meet, she should easily outperform her 55th place finish from the 2021 NCAA XC Championships and, in the process, look for her first All-American honors as a Charger.
Our women’s team rankings mentioned that Chico State had founda low-stick who would help propel them over the top at the national meet.
It just so happens that Marissa D’Atri is also worthy of being inside our top-25 after her recent performances. Her early-season races (14th at the Cougar Challenge; 37th at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational) didn't scream top-25 talent, but that was alright given that the Division Two season is extended by two weeks this year.
With that in mind, it's nice to see D'Atri piecing it all together as we near the end of the season.
D’Atri finished 14th at the D2 Pre-Nationals meet, 4th at the CCAA XC Championships and 3rd at the West Regional XC Championships. That is the type of improvement that we like seeing from an athlete such as herself. Her most recent 3rd place finish also secured an eight-second victory over top talent Kaela Dishion (who may have been ill) and it avenged some head-to-head losses from earlier in the season.
The San Diego State transfer is now in her second season with Chico State and the switch is paying dividends rather quickly -- for both D’Atri and the Wildcats.
The Mountaineers get their second athlete inside our top-25 list for the first time this season as Allison Beasley slides in at our TSR #23 spot.
Beasley has had a strong season leading up to the national meet, putting together three-straight top-10 performances. She was 9th at the D2 Pre-Nationals meet, 9th at the RMAC XC Championships and then 10th at the South Central Regional XC Championships. Not bad for a sophomore who is tasked with being an elite second scoring option for Western Colorado.
It's clear that Beasley has improved from last year and the confidence that she's built up should help her finish inside the top-25 on Friday. She's performed well against strong competition after a slow build-up to start this season and going back to a familiar course should only help her maneuver through a tough national field.
She was 29th at last year's national meet as just a freshman and we think she will finish her 2022 cross country season even better than that.
Johanna Wistokat is on fire right now and has been since the beginning of October.
She was 2nd at the Chile Pepper XC Festival (the "Open" section) before rattling off victories at the UAH D2 Festival Year Showcase, the Gulf South XC Championships and the South Regional XC Championships. Those finishes are all improvements from her 2021 season regarding both her placement and time.
Admittedly, determining just how good Wistokat is this fall has proven to be difficult given the somewhat limited strength of competition in the Gulf South Conference and South region. Her 38th place finish at the 2021 NCAA XC Championships can be used as a barometer, but we think that Wistokat's potential lies much higher than that.
We can't exactly predict where Wistokat might finish at this year’s national meet, but we’re confident that she will be a top-25 name when the race is finished.
We want to preface this blurb about Madison Brown with this: Shortly after we published our regional meet preview, we were notified that Brown would likely be racing with some kind of stomach illness. Well, Brown finished 34th at the South Central Regional XC Championships and we are inclined to believe that the illness slowed her down.
But let’s recap Brown’s season before making a rash decision.
She was 4th at the Roadrunners Invitational behind Jenna Ramsey, Zoe Baker and Molly Maksin. She was then 10th at the Chile Pepper XC Festival and was the first Division Two athlete to finish. After finishing earning wins at the DBU Old Glory Gallup, Brown then placed 2nd at the LSC XC Championships behind only Florance Uwajaneza and in front of Elenora Curtabbi.
Yes, we get it, her most recent result doesn’t look great, especially in a strong region against women who she’s already beaten this year.
However, when fully healthy, Brown is one of the best distance talents in the country and we expect to see her true self on Friday when the Patriots reach the starting line of the national meet.
There was quite a bit of chaos at the South Central Regional XC Championships and the likes of Nicole Lawrence and Emily Schoellkopf were affected by that.
Schoellkopf finished 20th overall and Lawrence finished 24th overall. Given that these women were 4th and 7th at the RMAC XC Championships just two weeks prior, those are not very strong results in our eyes.
We’re split on how we feel about both of these athletes as we head into the national meet on Friday.
Schoellkopf is expected to race in her first cross country national meet as a Grizzly. How she races will likely affect how highly this team finishes in the final standings. Her lack of experience in a high-leverage situation seemed to show up at the regional meet. It's not a guarantee that she will run as well as she did earlier this season and could throw a wrench in things for Adams State.
As for Lawrence, she was part of Adams State's national title-winning team last year, finishing in 21st place overall and serving as their fifth scorer. She’s shown us that she can perform at her best when it matters most, but in her three races this season, she has results of 2nd place, 20th place, 7th place and 24th place. While she's been inconsistent thus far, we will lean toward her everything together for Friday’s race.
To make it clear, these two women must perform as well as they did at the RMAC XC Championships for Adams State to be as potent as possible on Friday.
An “off” performance from these two women makes things much more interesting for the Grizzlies as they look to defend their national title from 2021.
After what felt like a slow start to the season for Nicolette Schmidt, it appears that she is back to top form, racing as strong as ever for the Vikings.
Her 26th place finish at the Bradley Pink Classic has propelled her into a strong postseason. She equaled the best finish of her career at the NSIC XC Championships with a 4th place result. Two weeks later, she had the best finish of her career at the Central Regional XC Championships finishing in 2nd place.
Schmidt is a veteran in every aspect of the word. This will be her fourth NCAA XC Championship meet which will likely play a huge role in how she performs on Friday.
Her familiarity with the athletes around her will allow her to pick and choose her spots during the race. And if she can hang around long enough with those familiar athletes, then she could shatter the modest expectations that she built during the regular season.
With things trending as they are, Schmidt looks poised to improve upon her 20th place finish from last year’s national meet.
Kylie Anicic will move up another spot in our rankings after her victory at the Atlantic Regional XC Championships.
The Edinboro harrier has only lost one race this season and that was at the Lewis Crossover meet in early October. That loss came at the hands of Lindsay Cunningham by 19 seconds. And for what it’s worth, that was the closest anyone from Division Two has come to Cunningham so far this season.
Anicic has been the best runner in the PSAC and the Atlantic region this fall and it’s been nice to see her take care of business in those postseason meets. This is her first season in an Edinboro uniform on the grass, but her talent has been on display since the start of the 2022 indoor track season.
If she continues to race as she has been, then we believe that Anicic is a top-20 name in Division Two.
Zoe Baker is staying put at TSR #16 after a strong 7th place finish at the South Central XC Championships.
Earlier in the season, we saw Baker lead her Colorado Mines team with a strong 3rd place finish at the D2 Pre-Nationals meet in late October. Her 14th place finish at the RMAC XC Championships was not a good indicator of the kind of shape that the Oredigger veteran is in.
Seeing her bounce back at her regional meet and secure a top-10 finish reaffirms that Baker's showing at her conference meet was just a one-time hiccup. Colorado Mines almost upset Adams State at the South Central Regional XC Championships as a team and it was largely dependent on the Oredigger's low-sticks placing.
While we're not sure if they can all replicate that at the national meet, we do know that the confidence for the Colorado Mines' women is incredibly high. As we head into the national meet on Friday, Baker looks poised to outdo her 25th place finish from the 2021 national meet.
Molly Maksin jumps seven spots in our rankings to TSR #15 after her phenomenal 5th place finish at the South Central Regional XC Championships.
Maksin has silently taken over as the top runner for Colorado Mines this season and led the Orediggers to runner-up performances at both the RMAC XC Championships and the South Central Regional XC Championships. This is an impressive string of results considering that she’s been in the shadows of her teammate, Zoe Baker, and was Colorado Mines’ third runner earlier this fall.
The Oredigger ace was 10th at the RMAC XC Championships and improved her finish to 5th at her regional meet. She was also 7th at the D2 Pre-Nationals meet and 3rd at the Roadrunners Invitational earlier in the season, showing off some highly encouraging consistency.
Maksin is a strong endurance runner, proven by her 10th place finish in the 10k at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last spring. She has steadily improved this season and her momentum makes her a promising athlete to watch as we head into the NCAA XC Championships this weekend.
Precious Robinson is another one of those Adams State athletes who stumbles a few spots after the South Central Regional XC Championships.
Robinson finished 8th in the South Central region the other week, which isn’t an entirely bad result -- it just looks worse after her 3rd place finish at the RMAC XC Championships from two weeks earlier. Despite finishing as the second scorer on her team at her regional meet, Robinson lost to five women who she had beaten by 10 seconds (or more) at the RMAC XC Championships.
We’re not so sure that this is something to be immediately concerned about, but it’s definitely something worth monitoring. Robinson has proven to be one of the best runners in the country when it comes to the grass, but we're not entirely sure what to make of those most recent result.
She was 11th at last year’s national meet and was a big reason why Adams State took home the national title. We’ll need to see another performance from her like that on Friday for us to feel confident about putting her back in our top-10.
Lauren Kiley moves up two spots to TSR #13 after earning a silver medal at the Midwest Regional XC Championships.
The rookie Laker has been a key part of Grand Valley State’s lineup and has seemingly been getting better and more consistent with every passing race. At her regional meet, she broke away from the field with her more experienced and highly accomplished teammates, Klaudia O’Malley and Natalie Graber, and went on to place 2nd overall.
Kiley is on a good trajectory heading into the NCAA XC Championships. All signs are pointing toward her being the top freshman in the field and, at the very least, finishing as an All-American.
Kiley has already been successful and the firepower that she has shown thus far indicates that she could be Grand Valley State’s next superstar over the next four years.
Kendall Kramer enters our rankings after her impressive performances at both the GNAC XC Championships and the West Regional XC Championships.
Kramer technically won the GNAC XC Championships after a neck-and-neck finish with her teammate Naomi Bailey (where they may have intentionally crossed the line together, although that's only speculation). She then went on to be the runner-up finisher at the West Regional XC Championships, five seconds behind Bailey.
Kramer entered our radar this season after her impressive 6th place finish at the D2 Pre-Nationals meet. This performance, and her two most recent races, solidified her spot in our rankings.
The Nanook ace has improved tremendously from last year and has some serious momentum going heading into the national meet. She was 76th last year and will likely blow that performance out of the water this Friday in Seattle.
Katie Doucette moves up one spot in our rankings to TSR #11 in this update. Doucette started off her season on a rougher note, but has redeemed herself with her most recent regional performance.
Doucette placed 4th at the South Central Regional XC Championships, improving from her 6th place finish at the RMAC XC Championships. She finished ahead of several top names and displayed some of the firepower that she seemed to be missing earlier in the year.
Heading into the NCAA XC Championships, Doucette is headed in the right direction and she appears to be on the cusp of performances similar to what she displayed last indoor season.
Based on her prior results, we know how talented Doucette is, but this season had a slower start for her than expected. Now, Doucette is more or less on our expected trajectory and is in a great spot as the season comes to a close.
The Mountaineer ace was 37th at last year’s NCAA XC Championships, but she will likely improve greatly upon this performance in Seattle this weekend.
Layla Almasri moves up one spot in our rankings to TSR #10 this week. The Mountain Lion star placed 3rd at the South Central Regional XC Championships, adding to her streak of impressive races this season.
Almasri held her own against a pack of Adams State women to place 5th at the RMAC XC Championships and beat several other top names in the process. At her regional meet, she held off familiar RMAC foes and finished at the front of the chase pack.
The UCCS ace has shown an increase in fitness, experience and firepower this season, which is promising considering that she was 12th at the NCAA XC Championships last year.
The only question for Almasri heading into the NCAA XC Championships is...just how high is her ceiling? And how much of that ceiling will she deliver on in the postseason?
Eleonora Curtabbi moves up four spots in our rankings to break into the top-10 of our individual rankings.
The Buffalo ace had a phenomenal day the other weekend and placed 2nd at the South Central Regional XC Championships behind her teammate, Florance Uwajeneza. This was a breakthrough performance for Curtabbi as she proved that she could be just as talented on the grass as she is in the steeplechase (well, maybe not exactly, but close to it).
We knew that Curtabbi had improved from last year, but we were not sure just how much better she would be. Well, she has exceeded our expectations this fall and has now proven herself against fierce competition.
Curtabbi showed us that she could run with, and beat, some of the best names in D2 at the moment. Looking forward to the national meet, her performance at South Central regional meet was extremely promising, suggesting another successful performance is on the horizon for Curtabbi who seems to have momentum in her favor.
Kaela Dishion maintains her TSR #8 ranking after her 5th place finish at the West Regional XC Championships.
A source informed TSR that members of the Stan State team were sick heading into the regional meet and we believe that illness affected Dishion’s performance. On a normal day, we would have expected Dishion to win this race, or at least make it extremely difficult for someone else to win.
There’s not too much else to say other than that the regional meet was likely an "off" day for Dishion and her seasonal resume thus far indicates a top-10 finish in Seattle this weekend.
Klaudia O’Malley stays put in our rankings after taking home gold at the Midwest Regional XC Championships. The Grand Valley State superstar made a move with 1k to go to win the race over her teammates, Lauren Kiley and Natalie Graber.
Historically, O’Malley builds throughout the season and peaks at national meets. She was the runner-up at the NCAA XC Championships last year and while she may not match that performance on Friday, she has the experience and firepower to be a top-10, maybe even a top-five, runner in Seattle.
Her performance at the Midwest regional meet was promising and shows an increased level of both fitness and confidence for O’Malley as we head into the most important meet of the season.
Naomi Bailey continues to impress us as she stays put at TSR #6 going into the national meet. The Nanook superstar won the West Regional XC Championships, adding another statement-making win to her resume.
Bailey shocked the D2 scene after winning the D2 Pre-Nationals meet earlier this fall and performed well at both the GNAC XC Championships and West Regional XC Championships.
Last year, she was 6th at her regional meet and 174th at the NCAA XC Championships. Heading into the national meet this weekend, Bailey is on another level, and has so much more experience and confidence.
Based on her recent performances, the Alaska-Fairbanks low-stick is headed towards a top-10 finish at the NCAA XC Championships.
Natalie Graber falls one spot in our rankings to TSR #5...but at no fault of her own.
The Laker ace placed 3rd at the Midwest Regional XC Championships, but it appeared to be a strategic race for Grand Valley State’s top trio. Only her teammates, Klaudia O’Malley and Lauren Kiley, finished ahead of Graber and the three GVSU runners were running in a pack for most of the race.
Graber didn’t need to race all-out at the Midwest regional meet and we don’t believe that she gave that kind of effort. This was just a stepping stone in her hunt for the national title and not indicative of her talent, or her momentum, heading into the NCAA XC Championships.
Brianna Robles falls to TSR #4 this week due to the success of another runner and just an “okay” performance from her at the South Central Regional XC Championships. Robles placed 6th overall the other weekend and was beaten by several runners who she had no trouble beating before.
While 6th in the South Central regional field is still a good performance for most, Robles is much better than how this race played out.
We are not sure if Robles was racing at 100% or if she just had an "off" day, but her ranking was affected by who she lost to at her regional meet. The Adams State star has had a phenomenal season before this and tends to bring her "A" game at national meets, so we are not too worried about this result as we head into the national meet.
Robles has come back stronger after every disappointing performance throughout her career, so this may have even fueled the fire in her chase for an individual title in Seattle.
Stephanie Cotter drops one spot in our rankings, partially due to a tough day on her end at the South Central Regional XC Championships and partially due to an impressive win by another runner.
Cotter did not have a good day at the South Central regional meet. We expected her to go out hard and come away with a win, much like what happened at the RMAC XC Championships. Instead, she never took control of the race and ultimately finished in 9th place overall.
We are not sure if that kind of result was planned or if Cotter just had a poor performance, but 9th place against this competition is still an alright day for the Adams State veteran.
We know that she is much more talented than this result shows. Thus, her ranking nearly stays the same. We are confident that Cotter will be racing like her usual self at the NCAA XC Championships later this week.
Florance Uwajeneza moves up three spots in our rankings after her impressive win at the South Central Regional XC Championships. The Buffalo ace and her teammate, Elenora Curtabbi, pulled away from the field and finished 10 seconds ahead of 3rd place.
While we knew Uwajeneza would be a top-five finisher in this race, her win was a pretty big upset against the Adams State duo of Stephanie Cotter and Brianna Robles.
Now that we’ve seen how Uwajeneza compares to talented RMAC competitors, it's clear that she can win against top talents. This turn of events will make things very interesting at the NCAA XC Championships and we cannot wait to watch how it plays out.
Lindsay Cunningham maintains her TSR #1 spot this week due to her dominating win at the Central Regional XC Championships.
She broke away from the rest of the field early in the race and took home the win by a jaw-dropping 44 seconds. This dominant win adds to her increasingly impressive resume and it contributes to the argument for her to take home her first NCAA title in just a few days.
Cunningham is undefeated this season and while she hasn’t faced many top competitors this season, her dominant performances and the margin of victories show us that she is incredibly fit right now. Anyone who wants to try and take a crack at Cunningham on Friday will need to be able to match that fitness level.
So far this season, no one has been able to match that fitness level and we're not so sure we will see someone step up at the national meet. Cunningham is an aerobic engine and shows no fear of taking control of races.
She will be a fierce competitor and extremely hard to beat in Seattle.
Kendall Kramer (Alaska-Fairbanks)
Marissa D'Atri (Chico State)
Liz Wamsley (Hillsdale)
Allison Beasley (Western Colorado)
Alyssa Becker (U-Mary)
McKenna Taylor (Winona State)
Gianna Bomarito (Sonoma State)
Clare Peters (Colorado Mines)
Alyssa Becker (U-Mary)
McKenna Taylor (Winona State)
Bradley Weimer (Drury)
Savannah Ackley (Cedarville)
Kimberley Goerss (Edinboro)
Alauna Carstens (Saint Martins)
Najwa Chouati (Stanislaus State)
Aria Hawkins (Lee (TN))
Rosie Fordham (Alaska-Fairbanks)
Katie Fankhouser (Fort Lewis)
Anna Fauske (UC-Colorado Springs)
Kira MacGill (Colorado Mesa)
Gianna Bomarito (Sonoma State)
Cailee Peterson (Minnesota-Duluth)
Clare Peters (Colorado Mines)
Kayden Legan (Stanislaus State)
Morgan Hykes (Adams State)
Holly Moser (Colorado Mines)
Abby VanderKooi (Grand Valley State)
Taryn Chapko (Grand Valley State)
Amber Owens (NW Missouri)
Jentrie Alderson (Pittsburg State)
Lara Murdock (Pittsburg State)
Lynette Ruiz (Biola)
Eline Pinter (Azusa Pacific)
Caitlin Heldt (Western Oregon)
Elise Leveel (Charleston (WV))